@rafdevis » web

www.pagereboot.com

rafdevis — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 19:51:59 +0000

CNN reports on a webdesigner from London who unknowingly helped taking down some government websites in Iran. His website offers a very simple functionality through which you can have a website of your choice be refreshed every so many seconds. Protesters in Iran have massively used the service to overheat e.g. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad‘s websites. Ryan Kelly at first took down his website after receiving messages that his website was being abused. But in the mean while he has decided to let his service be used in this way and thus choose sides in this political matter which has caused an outcry for justice all over the world. Another great example of how the Internet keeps on breaching our traditional power patterns. Although few people will be alarmed about the way this service is used right now, it will be interesting to see how it can/will be used in less laudable ways.

yellowBird

rafdevis — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 18:48:17 +0000

Amazing how Marc Groothelm and Rafaël Redczus, founders of the production house yellowBird (btw, speaking of an insanely long domain name for your website), just made Google Street View completely obsolete. This video actually lets you have a 360° view by simply dragging the screen. Whereas Google Street View is based on pictures, this video is achieved through 6 cameras/lenses which are later made into one with some very powerful software. The video can then be watched on any computer with Flash Player installed (who doesn’t have this these days?). It’s simply been baptized the yellowBird player.

Who took my badjas?

rafdevis — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 11:32:13 +0000

Belgacom aired a new commercial a while ago called ‘Who took my badjas?’ which has become a national hype in Belgium. Ringtones and an online contest are aiding this campaign to everyone’s attention. Local news media such as VTM have reported on it on tv and newspapers (1, 2 or 3) praise the success of this video gone viral. On Facebook you can find an immensely fast-growing group with more than 80.000 fans up to now.

Mac vs. PC banners

rafdevis — Fri, 22 May 2009 11:14:45 +0000

These are quite old apparently but I just saw them for the first time today. A rather refreshing approach to website ad banners in line with their mega-hit Mac vs. PC videos. I cannot believe companies still advertize on trash websites with flickering red/green banners and screaming pop-ups. Question is; would I enjoy these flash banners as much if they were for a brand of diapers?
Anyone know if there are more of these videos?

Kim Höltermand

rafdevis — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 16:40:59 +0000

Kim Höltermand has just launched his renewed website which is nothing short of stunning (I was informed through his Behance Innercircle). I wouldn’t mind buying big prints of these photos to put up on my walls. Wondering how he treats his colours this way. Architecture and misty surroundings tell a story of mystery. Can’t help but wonder if these places really are this fairytale-ish or if this is just another product of digital skills. Either way, Kim manages to create a world which seems unreal to the viewer but sucks them into another dimension of reality for just a few seconds.

Angels & Demons

rafdevis — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 13:25:32 +0000

Angels & Demons is the movie I’m looking forward to the most this year. Although The Da Vinci Code movie was a disappointment,? I admit this might be due to the fact I watched it?in a park on a huge screen with bad sound through some old speakers (this is the place to watch for 2009′s edition all ye Brusselites). Friends talking about?Dan Brown‘s success with TDVC eventually lead me to reading bestseller.?Jesus’s offspring is a good read but it was the other book that convinced me. I’m actually glad they had a tryout with TDVC because this time they will get the movie totally right. I mean, that statue half angel half demon in the trailer?scared the living crap out of me.

Audrey Toutou?not being in this second movie is a bummer. I’ve seen the trailer to her newest movie due April this year and she is incredible. Let’s see what Ayelet Zurer has in store. For thos who haven’t?read the book the choice of Ewan McGregor should indicate his role in the story. I won’t give it away completely?but casting such a famous actor takes away all the mystery in this conspiracy story. His performance in Big Fish has convinced me he’ll do great job as the camerlingo.

The movie’s website is also worth looking at. Being a Flash enthusiast it?musters perfect integration of web technology and video. This is the direction we should be going in the long run (although the shorter the better)?with internet and tv/film convergence.

EDIT: In the mean while I’ve been doing some research and found the name of this statue. It’s the Elorahim (or sometimes called the Nephalem), a half demon half angel mentioned in one of the Apocrypha (the books excluded from most non-Catholic bibles and included in most Catholic ones). This creature lives between heaven and hell, torn between his loyalty to God and Satan at the same time. Demons are said to be unforgivable because they’ve chosen for the ‘fallen angel’. But this story talks about a demon who is so afraid of the ‘end of times’ (cf. demons being cast into pigs because they’re so afraid of Jesus) that he feels remorseful for his choice. But God won’t forgive him completely which leads to him wanting to be faithful to God (who rejects him) and unwillingly belonging to Satan’s underworld (who owns him).